MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING WIFE SHOUTS ‘I’M GUILTY’ IN COURT

Law doesn’t allow defendants to plead guilty in felony arraignments

San Diego 
A man who had been on the run for more than a year made his first appearance in front of a San Diego judge Wednesday to face a murder charge in the stabbing death of his estranged wife.

Armando Gabriel Perez, 39, pleaded not guilty to killing 19-year-old Diana Gonzalez and was ordered to remain jailed without bail. The Superior Court arraignment came a day after he was extradited from Mexico City, where he had been held since his February arrest in Tijuana.

At one point during the court hearing, after Perez’s attorney made the not guilty plea on his behalf, Perez turned to the judge and yelled, “I’m guilty all right. I’m guilty. They’re telling me not to be guilty.”

As he was hustled out of the courtroom by deputies, Gonzalez’s sobbing sister stood up and cursed at Perez in Spanish. She was also escorted out of court.

Despite Perez’s outburst, the law does not allow defendants to plead guilty during felony arraignments. A guilty plea can only be made once the defense attorney has reviewed all the evidence in the case and it has been determined that the defendant is mentally competent.

Perez is accused of fleeing to Mexico after he dragged Gonzalez into a men’s restroom at San Diego City College, where she was attending an evening class, and stabbed her numerous times on Oct. 12, 2010.

The couple had been married for about nine months when the slaying occurred.

His young wife had filed a temporary restraining order against him about two weeks earlier after she reported to police he had kidnapped and assaulted her in September 2010. He was arrested but released days later when charges weren’t filed in the case.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said her office lacked proof beyond a reasonable doubt to try the case.

Gonzalez and her infant daughter sought refuge with her parents and had family members escort her places because she feared for her safety. Her parents had driven her to her class that evening and were waiting for her in the parking lot with an eye on her classroom when the attack occurred.

Classmates told investigators that they had seen Perez lurking in trees on campus and watching Gonzalez’s classroom before the killing, said Deputy District Attorney Teresa Santana. Classmates recognized Perez because he had frequently attended classes with his wife, even though he was not enrolled in them. They described him as very controlling, and Gonzalez as very quiet in his presence, Santana said.

After the slaying, authorities said Perez took a trolley, stole a car in Chula Vista, said goodbye to his children from a previous relationship in San Ysidro, and disappeared across the border.

Authorities hunted for Perez in Mexico for the next 16 months and finally got a good tip about his whereabouts. He was arrested at a bar on Avenida Revolución near downtown Tijuana.

Prosecutors had to agree not to pursue the death penalty in order to extradite him to the United States, Dumanis said.

He faces a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“We have never wished death on anyone, but what does the person who leaves a 10-month-old baby without her mother deserve? What does the person who snatches a 19-year-old daughter from her parents deserve?” the statement said. “Death would be fair, but we have to leave that aspect of human life to its creator. What we do wish for this murderer is the maximum penalty, that he never sees the light of day again, just like Diana will never see it.”